# First Public Schools in America

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-public-schools-in-america/227595>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 5, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-public-schools-in-america/227595 "2004-02-05T02:00:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pepsi\_Classic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pepsi\_Classic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pepsi_Classic)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-public-schools-in-america/227595/1 "2004-02-05T02:00:11Z")

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What was the first public school in America? When was it established? In 1787, what percentage of schools were public vs. private?

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-public-schools-in-america/227595/2 "2004-02-05T04:03:35Z")

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The following link provides a decent timeline of public education in the U.S. (It should be noted that the [Applied Research Center of the Race And Public Policy group](http://www.arc.org/erase/timeline.html) has a definite agenda and provides its information with a particular slant.

While it does not provide a linear history, the PBS program, [SCHOOL: The Story of American Public Education](http://www.pbs.org/kcet/publicschool/) also provides a lot of info.

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-public-schools-in-america/227595/3 "2004-02-05T13:36:09Z")

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Run a search with the words “Horace Mann.” He was a (Massachusetts?) state legislator back in The Day who was instrumental in pioneering the idea of public education.

NOTE: There’s an insurance company bearing his name in Springfield, IL, so your first few Google hits will likely be for insurance.

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-public-schools-in-america/227595/4 "2004-02-05T16:19:50Z")

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The first public school in the U.S. was [Boston Latin](http://bls.org) established April 23, 1635.